Searching by Title

If you know the title of a particular item, doing a title search is usually the most effective way to locate the item.

• Leave off any initial articles (the, a, an, la, le, der, etc.)
• Be careful to type the words of the title in order
• Be sure you have the correct "little words" in the title (don't confuse on, of, for, in etc.)
• It is better to enter an incomplete title than an inexact title (e.g. From anarchy to)

Searching by Author

It is best to know the full name of the author, especially if the author's surname is common.

• Always enter the family name (last name) and then the personal name (first name).

Searching for a Topic

Keyword searching, rather than subject searching, is recommended when you are looking for books about a particular topic.

• Use quotation marks (“) to search for a phrase
• “American Indians”

• Combine terms with AND, OR, NOT
• “American Indians” AND diabetes
• “American Indians” OR “Native Americans”
• “American Indians” NOT Athabaskan

• Use parentheses to group concepts
• (“American Indians” OR “Native Americans”) AND diabetes

• Use question mark (?) to truncate and retrieve alternate endings
• (“American Indian?” OR “Native American?”) AND diabet?

Library Codes

• AU = American University
• AU-WCL = Pence Law Library (AU Washington College of Law)
• CU = Catholic University
• DA = Georgetown Dahlgren Medical Library
• E-Gov/Doc = Online Government Document
• DC = University of the District of Columbia
• GA = Gallaudet University
• GM = George Mason University
• GT = Georgetown University
• GW = George Washington University
• HI = Himmelfarb (George Washington Medical Library)
• JB = Jacob Burns (George Washington Law Library)
• LI = Catholic University Lima, Peru
• MU = Marymount University
• TR = Trinity University

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